Read Online The Love Story (The Things We Can't Change Book 4) by Kassandra Kush - Free Book Online

not in prison or juvie. Dominic doesn’t really talk about his six-month stint there in eighth grade and that’s telling enough.
    “What about his friends?” I continue. “Kendal? Tyler? Were they with him when he got caught?”
    I’m lucky that Dominic is distracted enough by trying to check his phone again that he doesn’t question my own questioning. He only turns so it looks like he’s hugging the wall with his right side to try and conceal the light of his phone as he answers, “Ummm, I’m not sure. Tyler moved to Cincinnati at the beginning of the summer and last I heard, Kendal was still working at Brothers. But I’ve been there the past couple weekends and haven’t seen him so he might have tried the college thing again and be back at OU.”
    “Gimme that!”
    We both jump as Alex swoops in from nowhere and snatches the phone out of Dominic’s hand.
    “Alex, aw, come on, man!” Dominic hisses after him, but Alex doesn’t turn around and Dom kicks the wall, cussing.
    I roll my eyes and move on from my spot against the wall, seeing a lot of movement around the cake table and knowing we’re back on for the moment. We go through the whole reception without any trouble from the club patrons and I allow some premature sighs of relief to escape the longer the evening goes without incident. The DJ announces the last song of the night and I’m thinking I may escape an ugly encounter when I turn around and find Josh blocking my path back to the kitchens.
    He sneers at me. “What’s up, Quain?”
    I dig up a bland waiter’s smile from somewhere. “Surprised you’re brave enough to talk to a rapist and murderer all by yourself, Chambers.”
    He must be even drunker than he appears, because he actually has the nerve to poke me next. I have the sudden vision of breaking my tray over his fat head and it helps me stay calm.
    “You don’t fucking scare me,” he slurs. “In fact, I could take you on, pretty boy.”
    I can’t hold back an eye roll. “Pretty boy? Isn’t that my line?”
    “Come on.” Josh actually manages a few shuffles as though he’s gearing up for a fight, but the drink in his hand ruins the seriousness of it. “Come on, Quain. Don’t they teach you rapists and women beaters how to fight in juvie?”
    In an instant, my blood boils over and the glasses on my tray are rattling. It tests every shred of my self-control to hold steady and not jump him right then and there.
    “You watch your fucking mouth, asswipe,” I say quietly. “And don’t talk shit when you don’t know the whole story.”
    He gets into my face, eyes bloodshot but steady on my own. “You stole my best friend’s girl and almost got him killed. I’ll be waiting for you, Quain. Just wait for it.”
    He waits just a moment longer, trying to prove a point, before finally backing down and stepping away. I watch him go, my chest heaving quietly, the stupid tray still clutched in my shaking hands.
    A hand settles on my shoulder and I almost jump, then Alex’s voice says, “I’m proud of you, Zeke. I know that wasn’t easy.”
    “Yeah, whatever.” I jerk away from his hold and head back to the kitchens, visions of pounding Josh to a pulp dominating my mind.
     
    When he said he would be “waiting for me,” I’d thought Josh was talking abstractly. That they’d cook up a nasty new rumor to pass around or maybe try to get at Evie to get back at me. I thought he meant it figuratively.
    What I hadn’t expected was to be leaving the club that very night at two AM with Dominic and a few other employees and catch movement out of the corner of my eye. And then my right cheek explodes in pain.
    For just one moment, the world tilts sideways and chaos reigns. Dominic and the guys with us are shouting and the lone girl screams and I double over in pain. I almost fall down in shock before the world seems to right itself and I come back into myself. I straighten, one hand over my cheek, and meet Josh’s crazy